> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ironoctopus.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Plans and approval

> Read a feature's plan and decide when Iron Octopus starts building it.

A feature's plan is what Iron Octopus will build and how you'll know it's done. By default, nothing is built until you approve the plan.

## What a plan contains

* **Acceptance criteria**: what has to be true for the feature to be done. See [requirements](https://docs.ironoctopus.ai/building-blocks/requirements.md).
* **Work items**: the pieces of work, each with a risk level that sets how closely it's reviewed.
* **Recorded assumptions**: the answers Iron Octopus assumed for questions you skipped.

You can change the plan and its acceptance criteria while the feature is in Planning. Each change to the acceptance criteria is kept as a new version, so the record shows what was agreed and when.

## Approve the plan

**1. Find it on Home**

When a plan is ready, the feature appears under **Needs you** as **Ready to build**, with any recorded assumptions listed so you can check them.

**2. Open and read it**

Open the feature to read the full plan. Change anything that isn't right before you start.

**3. Click Start building**

This records your approval of the plan and moves the feature to **Building**. Iron Octopus starts on the work items.

## When a feature can't start yet

A feature stays in Planning until it's ready. The feature page tells you what's missing:

| What you see | What to do |
| - | - |
| No acceptance criteria are defined | Click **Draft criteria** to have Iron Octopus write them, or write them yourself. Building can't start until the feature says what done means. |
| No work has been planned yet | Click **Build a plan**. |
| Dependencies are not released yet | Wait for the features this one depends on to be released. |

## Changing the rule

Approving the plan is a built-in rule that's on by default. You can change it so features start building without your approval, for one project or for your whole workspace. 


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